Highly publicized hacking incidents has made computer system intrusion prevention a priority for most businesses. As a result, many companies will say they have taken all the steps necessary to protect sensitive data against unauthorized access. But how comprehensive is the coverage?
Raw data resides on protected servers and rarely leaves the premises. If it does, company encryption policies keep data from being accessed if lost or stolen in transit. One area often overlooked, however, is print data – which companies often ship, with insufficient security, to offsite production facilities.
Print files can contain a wealth of personal and sensitive information such as account numbers, medical treatment descriptions, bank account transactions, or called phone numbers. Lost or intercepted print data is a privacy breach that can be just as serious as the incidents reported on the nightly news.
Print image files are subject to several operations and processes. Common operations include:
- File merging and splitting
- Postal processing
- Document reformatting
- Householding
- Output channel splitting
- Archiving
Print data is typically at risk during and between these operational steps. Unlike information stored in corporate databases, print files are transient. This may explain why otherwise security conscious organizations neglect to protect data used to produce paper and electronic documents. Once a company prints and archives their documents, the print data has little value to the organization. Thieves, however, would find print file information useful for identity theft, phishing lures, and insurance fraud.
To decrease risk exposure, the document industry needs data protection that travels with the print files, prohibiting unauthorized access but enabling a smooth and efficient workflow.
The document experts at Crawford Technologies recognized this problem and created a solution: PRO Lockdown.
With PRO Lockdown, companies can comply with regulations such as HIPAA and PCI even when their data is beyond their direct control. PRO Lockdown addresses the security gaps in document production workflows by encrypting files and allowing only those entrusted with generated passwords to unlock them.
This Crawford Technologies solution provides the option to encrypt each page of data individually. Regardless of how an organization splits or selects records from a print file, the PRO Lockdown encryption remains in place. With this degree of protection companies can even handle exception processes like reprints without unlocking an entire file to print only a page or two.
When processing is complete, files remain encrypted even in the document archive. If an organization uses PRO Lockdown to secure the data throughout the production process, no stored document will ever be at risk.
For more information on PRO Lockdown, download the product information sheet HERE.
